Hi, my name's Lynda, and I'm a sci-fi geek. There, I said it. Yes, I've even been to several sci-fi conventions and had dinner with a few Star Trek actors. Go ahead and laugh. You're not the first. In my years of loving science fiction, I’ve learned that good sci-fi isn't all about aliens and fantasy and the future. Really good sci-fi holds up a mirror to our current society in a way that other genres can't and makes us wonder WHAT IF?
None of these quotes have to do with science fiction. They just happen to be from science fiction shows. Whether you enjoy sci-fi or not, I hope that at least one or two of these quotes resonate with you. Obviously, all of them speak to me. I’ve put the references as to who said what and where at the end in case you’re interested.
1. “Live long and prosper.”
I’m sure you’ve heard this before and seen the “Vulcan salute” with your palm up and your fingers in a V shape. But did you know that this “salute” was inspired by a gesture actor Leonard Nimoy (who played Mr. Spock in the Star Trek universe) had seen during a blessing at an orthodox Jewish ceremony when he was a boy? And that the quote comes from the Hebrew benediction “May the Lord bless you and keep you”? Pretty cool, right?
2. “Seize the time. Live now! Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.”
This quote and the next one are quotes that I have to repeat over and over to myself. I am a planner and a worrier, and I tend to look to the future more than I sit in the present.
3. “Embrace the moment. In the end, that’s all we have. Trouble will come in its own time, it always does. But that’s tomorrow. Give me today, and I will be happy.”
Give me today, and I will be happy. Wow. Sometimes that's a toughie, isn't it? My husband was recently hospitalized while we were on vacation, and things didn't look so good for a while. Every day I tried to find joy somewhere...joy that I had friends who cared about me, joy that my favorite nurse was tending to my husband that day, joy for a good test result. When we try to find joy in every circumstance, what a change it makes in our world.
4. “Look up …!”
I know this isn’t the sexiest of quotes, but it really hit me. I walk my dogs every morning, and I’m almost always looking down at the path in front of me so I don’t step in something or trip on something. I forget to LOOK UP. After watching this episode of Star Trek: Picard recently, it inspired me to look up when I’m walking. Look up to the sky, the clouds, the trees and birds. There’s so much more to see in this world than what is on the ground six feet in front of me.
5. “Feelings aren’t positive or negative. They simply exist. It’s what we do with those feelings that becomes good or bad.”
This was one of my favorite quotes before I’d even heard of the think-feel-act cycle. We think a thought, then we feel a feeling about that thought, then we act on our feeling. How we act determines whether we’ve turned that thought into a positive or negative.
6. “I’ve often felt that dreams are answers to questions we haven’t yet figured out how to ask.”
I believe our dreams are our subconscious or our soul spirit trying to move us in the right direction either by direct communication or metaphors. In The Secret Language of Dreams from wellbeing.com.au (2016) it says: “At times, dreams are the portal through which truths surface from deep within the subconscious.”
7. “Love always ends in grief.”
Wow. This one really made me think. I paused the episode of Star Trek: Discovery and sat there repeating “love always ends in grief.” My husband thought I’d gone crazy. The Dalai Lama states in The Book of Joy: “Without love, there is no grief. So when we feel our grief, uncomfortable and aching as it may be, it is actually a reminder of the beauty of that love, now lost.” Even though there is grief when you lose someone or something, it does not mean that the love has ended. You grieve because you loved deeply. Loving anything or anyone leaves us open to vulnerability and therefore grief, but it is absolutely worth the risk.
8. “With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.”
So true and powerful and relevant to our current society. Nuff said.
9. “Where would the fun be if we knew all there is to know?”
We are so busy trying to figure out the meaning of everything so that our lives can be black & white with no uncertainties or gray areas that we forget if we knew everything there is to know, there would be no wonder or magic in our lives. We would never be dazzled or surprised. How ordinary and boring that would be.
10. "There are many parts of my youth that I'm not proud of. There were loose threads, untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I pulled on one of those threads, it unraveled the tapestry of my life."
This one may be my favorite. I often think about my regrets in life and wish I could go back and do better. But I have to remind myself if I did that, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. One thread in each tapestry touches so many others. When we pull just one thread, there would be a chain reaction that would pull the entire tapestry of our lives apart.
I hope some of these quotes made you think. Did any of them resonate with you? Do you have a favorite quote from a movie or TV show? If so, please share them in the comments. I’d love to see them.
References: 1. Spock and everybody in the Star Trek (ST) universe at one time or another; 2. Jean-Luc Picard, ST:The Next Generation (ST:TNG), Inner Light; 3. John Sheridan, Babylon 5, Epiphanies; 4. Yvette Picard, ST:Picard, The Star Gazer; 5. Counselor Troi, ST:TNG, Descent; 6. Fox Mulder, The X-Files, Aubrey; 7. Cleveland Booker, ST:Discovery, Coming Home; 8. Picard, ST:TNG, The Drumhead; 9. Walter Bishop, Fringe, Midnight; 10. Picard, ST:TNG, Tapestry
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